Gilbert Achcar
Well, the first intifada peaked in 1988, especially during the first half of that year. It was a grassroots movement, organized through local and popular committees — a true mass mobilization that saw significant participation from women. People of all ages were present. The movement created a real moral crisis within Israeli society, and even within the Israeli army. It also generated considerable international sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
So why did it fail? First, because Israeli repression was intense. But more importantly, the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] took over the leadership and hijacked the intifada. Yasser Arafat and the PLO redirected it toward their own project of establishing a so-called Palestinian state, which eventually led to the 1993 Oslo Accords. A key turning point was the shift away from the local leadership within the occupied territories to the PLO leadership in Tunis. From there, it began issuing official statements in the name of the intifada via radio, effectively sidelining the grassroots leadership. That marked a major step backward for the movement’s autonomy and direction.
Second, mass struggle doesn’t win in one shot. It happens in waves — each wave strengthens the movement and gradually weakens the adversary. It’s a question of the balance of forces. When your enemy is militarily much stronger and fully prepared to kill, it’s not in your interest to initiate armed attacks, even less so if your enemy is backed by a majority of the land’s residents due to the uprooting of your own people. If you do, they will crush you.
But if you engage in popular struggle, you gain moral superiority and can attract much broader support. In such a case, the enemy finds itself in a more difficult position: if it responds by massacring peaceful demonstrators, it becomes widely condemned. It…
Auteur: Gilbert Achcar
